This invention relates generally to stands and supports for personal computers and the cathode ray tube (CRT) monitors used with those computers, and particularly to an apparatus for supporting a variety of personal computers and their monitors completely above a work surface while permitting the height, tilt angle, or rotation of that monitor to be fully adjusted, allowing access to the personal computer control panel and disk drives, and further allowing that monitor to be "parked" in a location adjacent to but displaced from the work surface.
In very recent years, the power of personal computers has increased so dramatically that many personal computers now have capabilities possessed only a decade ago by sophisticated and bulky mainframe computers. With this increase in power, and the concurrent technical advances which have led to a decrease in the price of complex electronic components, these personal computers have become accessible to a far wider spectrum of users. The diverse applications presently flourishing include drafting using CAD/CAM or design drawing programs, desktop publishing, advertising and graphic layouts, and sales promotion and business presentations.
Traditional freestanding workstations, each costing tens of thousands of dollars, have similarly been increasing in capacity and decreasing in price, in an effort to stimulate direct competition with the new personal computers. As a result, many traditional dedictated workstations are no longer being produced as freestanding units complete with coordinated furnishings.
Paralleling the above trend, almost all mainframe computers have been converted to "on-line" use with thousands of independent users able to access the mainframe via communications lines and interactive CRT units located at the individual work places. Due to the increasing use of personal computers, workstations, and CRTs in conventional business, industrial, and engineering facilities and the unlimited variety of new settings to which personal computers are being constantly introduced, the need for convenient, efficient, and ergonomically designed working environments for individuals using computers has become acute. As a part of their daily activities, many people are required to speed all or part of their work or free time at a terminal, computer, or similar user interface.
It is not uncommon to find a computer or terminal sitting on an office desk or separate computer stand. As wide array of computer furniture designed to accommodate many difference system components and specific professional applications have been developed.
The need for customized furniture for computer users has also been dictated by the rapid increase in the number and variety of peripheral devices and interfaces which each user will have connected to their central processing unit (CPU). These peripheral devices include extended keyboards, large-screen or multiple page monitors, a mouse or trackball, joysticks, digitizers such as image scanners or drawing pads, printers, modems, hard disks and optional format disk drives, coprocessors, power supplies, networking interfaces, and many other specialized devices such as musical keyboards. The average drafting workstation will comprise a CPU with built in hard disk, one optional disk drive, keyboard, mouse, digitizer pad, and two monitors (one large screen). A standard desktop publishing workstation might include a CPU, large screen monitor, laser printer, image scanner, keyboard, mouse, external hard disk, and a disk drive.
These devices and components must generally be placed where easily accessible to the user. At a minimum, the monitors, keyboard, and mouse must be conveniently located on a top of a horizontal work surface, such as a desk at which the user will be seated. For most applications, the individual using the computer will likely be involved in processing information--that is, compiling and transforming information from one or more sources to produce a distinct product. Particularly in a business setting, it is rare that any completely original information is generated. Consequently, the user must have sufficient room available on the work surface or surrounding area for drawings, preliminary drafts, reference materials, artwork, manuals, and the like.
In those settings in which the personal computer is not the main focus of work activities, but is considered merely one of the many tools or resources available to an individual, the need for making that unit conveniently accessible while preventing it from becoming an obstacle to other activities becomes paramount. Moreover, where the computer is an adjunct to the normal daily activities, there will most likely be a wealth of available items competing for positions of priority on the person's desk or in their work area.
Many different apparatuses have been developed to assist in alleviating the problem of insufficient work space to accommodate the various components and peripherals which a person desires to have readily accessible. The most cumbersome component, other than the CPU itself (which may sometimes be positioned adjacent to the work surface) is the monitor. It is almost invariably necessary to position the monitor screen directly in front of the user, at or near eye level.
The most common items for achieving this result include monitor stands which straddle a computer or CPU, with the separate monitor resting on top. Some monitors are designed so they may sit directly on the computer, or are themselves freestanding and can be turned in different directions to provide wide or full height viewing.
Each of the monitor supports or stands presents several common drawbacks when used in a workstation or computer intensive environment.
Most use valuable space on the work surface, and permanently occupy that space even when the computer is not in use. The most versatile of such stands only permit a very limited degree of adjustment in the height, tilt angle, or rotation of the monitor, and adjustments will require loosening hardward fittings or physically lifting and moving the monitor. With monitors weighing anywhere between 15 and 120 lbs., such an alternative cannot be considered a convenient or practical solution.
One improvement on the standard monitor stand, permitting the greatest degree of flexibility and ease in making adjustments to the monitor position is the Swivel/Tilt Mounting Device for a Cathode Ray Tube disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,453,687. This Swivel/Tilt device has been adapted for use in supporting various personal computer systems in which the monitor, CPU, and disk drives are combined in a common housing, with the keyboard and mouse being attached by cables. Representative examples of such a device are currently marketed by Ergotron, Inc., of Minneapolis, Minn., under the name "MacTilt."
Some monitor supports have extensible, cantilevered arms to support the monitor and permit it to be rotated, tilted, swiveled, raised and lowered to various positions. Representative examples of such extensible monitor supports include the "PC Float System" marketed by Global Computer Supplies, the "CRT Valet" marketed by Businessland of San Jose, Calif., and the "CRT Shuttle" also marketed by Global Computer Supplies and disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,562,987.
The PC Float System has a pivotable arm which clamps to the lip of a desk and is supported by a pressurized pneumatic cylinder. The monitor platform is supported on a hemispherical globe resting within a basin. The globe, and thus the monitor platform and monitor, may be rotated within the torus to adjust the position of the monitor. The CRT Shuttle similarly clamps to a work surface and comprises a pair of jointed arms which permit an individual to manually raise or lower the monitor, or rotate it in several directions. Finally, the CRT Valet uses a cable biased cantilevered arm configuration which permits vertical and rotational movement of the monitor, as well as manual adjustment of the monitor position.
Each of these extensible arm systems provides some advantages over conventional monitor stands. They permit the user some degree of immediate movement of the monitor without having to lift the monitor or unlock hardware fittings. Each permits the monitor to be parked in a position away from the normal viewing position, and allow multiple users to share a monitor if their desks are situated accordingly. Finally, they include such options as gripping handles, an electrical power outlet, and options to support other equipment.
There are, however, several common disadvantages associated with these extensible arm systems. First, each requires that the main support arm be clamped to the lip of a desk with a mounting bracket or permanently attached to the desk if no lip is present. Each arm extends over the desk between the mounting bracket and the monitor, thus preventing the user from placing items in the area bounded by the sweep of the arm. While the CRT Valet arm is jointed in the vertical direction, the CRT Shuttle is jointed horizontally and the PC Float System is unjointed, thereby limiting any clearance between the work surface and arm, and consequently consuming more work area than the monitor alone. The ability to share a monitor is constrained by the extent to which the support arm will reach. Further, while each of the above extensible arm units allows the monitor to be parked when using a desk in an open area, it becomes impractical to park the monitor when the desk or work surface is bounded by walls or partitions.
A distinct solution to the problem of limited workspace is a desk unit having a clear or transparent work surface, the monitor being positioned beneath the work surface and tilted upward to that the screen may be viewed through the work surface by a user seated at the desk. Such a design, while conserving the entire work surface, is not ergonomically sound since it places the screen a greater distance from the user and requires that they must constantly look downward. This design also results in the user's view being obscured by items scattered on or about the work surface.